A Kabbalistic Commentary on the Bismillāh
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N. Wahid Azal & N.U.R.-FSO © 2020
Praise be unto God Who at each moment reveals the logoic mysteries of the
Book of Its Cosmos via the science of the numbers and letters. And salutations
and blessings be upon the pentagrammic loci of Its continual Theophanic
Manifestations from before and after! Amen!
In Arabic the abjad numerical value of “In the Name of God the Compassionate, the
Merciful!” ( ) ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓis 786. First note that 7 + 8 + 6 = 21 = ( ֶא ְהי ֶהehyeh) ("I
AM"). In the operation of AIQ BKR (i.e. the gematria of the nine chambers)
this number is reduced to 3.
3 is gimel ( )גin Hebrew and jīm ( )جin Arabic. The number three on the
metaphysical plane in itself represents the i. the Divine world ()اﻟﻌﺎﱂ اﻻٕﻟﻬﻴﺔ, ii. the
world of the divine Command ( )اﻟﻌﺎﱂ ا ٔﻣﺮand iii. the creation ()اﳋﻠﻖ. Gimel is
claimed by some kabbalists to be derived from the word "gemul", which in
Hebrew means both the giving of reward as well as the giving of punishment.
Gimel ( )גִּימֶלalso means action and is a word for "camel." The camel, according
to some sources, is the animal associated with the Asherah (ש ָׁרה
ֵ ) ֲא, i.e. a
sacred tree or pole wherein the descent of the Shekinah is held to occur. The
individuals responsible for writing the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus
were against the Israelites worshiping God at trees or sacred groves, due to
the obvious pagan Canaanite-Assyrian pedigree of such a practice.1
Nevertheless, and even though derived from an originary Assyro-Babylonian
nexus, this was a common practice of the ancient Israelites in reverence to
Moses' ( )عexperience at the Burning Bush at Sina’i where the Shekinah of the
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Name (HaShem) descended and gave Him His mission to save the children of
Israel from Pharaoh while revealing the Law of Heaven to this chosen
humanity for that specific period in history -- which, per the Bayān, was a
rank, together with its Law, which was altogether abrogated in the
succeeding divine dispensation -- and with it bringing these Israelites back to
the land of their forefathers, Jacob ( )عand Abraham ()ع. The "I Am" (ehyeh) as
such is the theophany of the archangel Metatron who is the Supreme
Manifestation of the Shekinah and the Voice Moses ( )عconversed with on
Sina’i Who is the gimel/jīm –- and thus the manifestation of God’s action
(gimel) as the dispenser of divine legislative rewards and punishments (gemul)
in the spatiotemporal world -- which is the number 3. Note also how in the
Tarot the letter gimel is associated with the Major Arcana card (ATU II) of the
High Priestess Who is the physical embodiment or spatiotemporal
manifestation of the Shekinah on earth.
As for the seven letters of the bismillāh (“In the Name of God”) () ﺴﻢ ﷲ:
each of these letters represents one of the seven divine creative attributive
imprints ()ﺧﺼﺎل اﻟﺴ"ﺒﻌﺔ. The letter Bāʾ ( )بrepresents the Divine Will (ﺔ$% )اﳌﺸwhich is
the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Originator’ (al-bārīʾ)
()ﻟاﺒﺎريء. The letter Sīn ( )سis the Divine Volition ( )ٕاﻻرادةwhich is the locus for the
manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Peace’ (as-salām) ( )اﻟ ّﺴﻼمthat is the sakīna
(ﻨﺔ1 )اﻟّﺴﻜ-- or Shekinah. The letter Mīm ( )مis the Divine Determination ()اﻟﻘﺪر
which is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Sovereign
Owner’ (al-mālik) (5)اﳌﺎ. The letter Alif (6ٔ) represents the Divine Authorization
( )اﻟﻘﻀﺎءwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the First’
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(al-awwal) ()ا ٔ ّول. The first Lām ( )لis the Divine Realization ( )ٕاﻻﻣﻀﺎءwhich is the
locus for the manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Magnanimous’ ()ا;ﻠﻄﻴﻒ. The
ّ ٔ )اwhich is the locus for the
second Lām ( )لis the Allotted Time (=ﻞ
manifestation of the Divine Name ‘the Irradiator’ (al-lamīʾ) ( ;)ا;ﻠﻤﻴﻊand the Hāʾ
( )هis the cosmic Book (ﺎبA )اﻟﻜwhich is the locus for the manifestation of the
Divine Name ‘the Guide’ (al-hādī) ()اﻟﻬﺎدي.
Now, the two attributes following the bismillāh (“In the Name of God”)
(– ) ﺴﻢ ﷲ- that is, ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦand ar-raḥīm (“the
Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ-- both are related by their etymological root/maṣdar to raḥim
( )رﰘwhich means ‘womb’. As such one of the denotations of ar-raḥmān arraḥīm (“the Compassionate, the Merciful”) ( ) ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓindicates the All-High in
the station of the Mother of all creation. Ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”)
( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦrepresents the Divine Womb and all things in their potential state[s]
gestating within this Divine Womb as the immutable archetypal forms (ﺑﺘﺔF )ﻋﻴﺎن
“…which have [as yet] not whiffed from the taste of existence…”2 Ar-raḥīm (“the
Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓrepresents their state of actualization and existentiation, the
substrate upon whose actuality and existence continually depends the influx
of the Divine Mercy ()رﲪﺔ اﻻٕﻟﻬﻴﺔ. The twelve letters of ar-raḥmān ar-raḥīm (“the
Compassionate, the Merciful”) ( )ا ل ر ح م ن ا ل ر ح ي م( ) ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓare associated with
the twelve letters of the tahlīl (i.e. “there is no god but God” lā ilāha illā allāh) ( ل
)ا ا ل ه ا ل ا ا ل ل هwhich in the realm of the Theophany of Persons are associated
with each of the Twelve Imāms ( )عWho are, as it were, the mothers of the
true initiates.
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The four words composing the bismillāh, i.e. “In the Name of God the
Compassionate, the Merciful!” () ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ, correspond to the four phrases of
the Tasbīḥ al-Fāṭima (( )عThe Theophanic Praise of Fāṭima), i.e. “Glory be to God
and praise be unto God and there is no god but God and God is the Most Great!” ( ﺎنKﺳ"ﺒ
ﻛﱪ6ٔ ٕ ّاﻻ ﷲ و ﷲO و ﻻ ٕاP )ﷲ و اﶵﺪsubhān’ ullāh wa’l-ḥamduli’Llāh wa lā ilāha illā allāh wa
allāhu akbar! These four words in turn correspond to the four worlds within
the cosmic Tree which are lāhūt (the Divine realm), jabarūt (the Empyreans of
Power), malakūt (the Angelic world) and nāsūt (the material world) that
correspond to the four worlds of the sephirotic kabbalah which are atziluth
(the World of Emanation), briah (the world of the Creation), yetzirah (the
world of Formation) and assiyah (the world of Action). These in turn have
their archetypal correspondences with the four elements that are Air, Fire,
Water and earth. So the bism (“In the Name of”) ( ) ﺴﻢis ‘glorification’ (ﺢ1SﺴT) and
is associated with lāhūt (the Divine realm) that is the atziluth (the World of
Emanation) –- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate as being the World of the
Mother of the Book (ﺎبAﺎﱂ ُ ّام اﻟﻜU) –- and the element Air (= white). This first
correspondence is also associated in the subtle physiology with the BlazeFlux ( )ﻓﺆادthat is equivalent to existence ()وﺟﻮد. Next, the word “God” ( )ﷲis
‘praise’ ( )ﲢﻤﻴﺪand is associated with jabarūt (the Empyreans of Power) that is
the briah (the world of the Creation) -- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate as
being the First World of the Primordial Particles of Light (\ول
ّ ﺎﱂ ذ ّراتU) which is
also known by its alternative title of the First World of the Luminous
Silhouettes (\ول
ّ ﺎﱂ \ﺷ"ﺒﺎحU) –- and the element Fire (= yellow). This second
correspondence is associated in the subtle physiology with the Spirit ( )روحand
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essence (ﲔU/)ﻣﺎﻫﻴـــﺔ. Ar-raḥmān (“the Compassionate”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦis ‘testification to the
divine unity’ ( )ﲥﻠﻴﻞand is associated with the malakūt (the Angelic world) that
is the yetzirah (the world of Formation) -- and which the Imāms ( )عdesignate
as being the second World of the Primordial Particles of Light which is
ّ ) –- and the
bifurcated into a celestial heaven (ﻠﻴﻴﻮنU) and a celestial hell (ﲭﲔ
element Water (= green) and prima materia ()ﻫﻴﻮﱃ. This second correspondence
is associated in the subtle physiology with the soul ()ﻧﻔﺲ. Finally, ar-raḥīm (“the
Merciful”) ( )ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓis the ‘magnification’ (ﲑkﻜl) and is associated with nāsūt (the
material world), or the Dominion (mulk), that is the assiyah (the world of
Action) which is associated with the element of the earth (= red), the
composite body ( )ﺟﺴﺪand form ()ﺻﻮرة.
Nineteen letters in total constitute the bismillāh, i.e. “In the Name of God
the Compassionate, the Merciful!” () ﺴﻢ ﷲ ّاﻟﺮﲪﻦ ّاﻟﺮﺣﲓ. 19 in Hebrew is the gematria of
the name of Eve (chavah) ( ) ַח ָוּהwhich in itself is derived from em kol chai ( אם כל
)חי, i.e. “the All-Living Mother,” that instantiates the manifesting power of
the cosmos which is cryptically referred to as “the Bride” that represents the
sphere of Malkuth ( = מלכות496 = 19) in the sephirotic Tree of Life. In His
commentary on the sūrah of the Cow (2), the Primal Point indicates that the
transfiguration of Eve ( )عin the Garden of Eden was in fact the Self-Disclosure
ّ ) of Fāṭima ( )عas the Tree of Reality (ﻘﺔ1)ﴭﺮة اﳊﻘ: Fāṭima ( )عWho is the mother
(ﲡﲇ
to eleven of the Twelve Imāms ( )عas well as the ‘Mother of Her Father’ (ﳱﺎs6ٔ ) ُ ّام
and the “Bride” to the first amongst these twelve vicegerent providential
guides ( )ﻟاوﻴﺎء ﷲWho is ʿAlī ()ع. Finally, and most importantly of all, in the
dispensation of the Bayān the nineteen letters of the bismillāh represent the
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Theophany of Persons that is the First Unity (\ول
ّ ﺪt)اﻟﻮا, i.e. the Primal Point
and His Eighteen Letters of the Living Who are the 'Return' to the world of
the Fourteen Infallibles ( )عand the Four Gates together with the Theophanic
Self-Disclosure of the Primal Will within the Celestial Earth of the
Pentagrammic Talisman of ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī, the Bāb.
2 Mulk (Dominion) 172 BE
413
1
Note here the rabbinic corruption of ‘Asherah’ as Astarte and their association of Astarte
qua ‘the Morning Star’, i.e. Venus, with Lilith due to Asherah’s original association with the
Sumero-Babylonian-Assyrian mother goddess Ishtar, not to mention its later Christian
association with Lucifer qua satan.
2
Ibn ʿArabī, The Bezels of Wisdom (fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam).
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